The Arizona champion., 1887-08-20
FIRE FIENDS.
A DastardIy Attempt Made to Burn u

lardly attempt vas made to set the
 town on fire, and had It not been
 fortunately discovered just as the Games were taking hold of the back part Jl the Chinese restaurant owned by Slm Lee on Railroad Avenues dlsaS .rous fire must have ensued which would probably have destroyed large portion ofth business part of the town.
 Shortly after midnight, as a yonng man named Alfred Graham was walk ing down the street, in passing a store now in course of construction between the Chinese restaurant of Sam Lee and D. A. Murphy's building he saw bright light reflected on the eastern wall of the back part of the building, Running through the build ing which being incompleted was op- en, he discovered the extension of the Gonzales building, occupied by the Chinese to be on fire. Hs immediate ly gave the alarm and running into Murphy's he seized a bucket of water which was taken from him by R. E. Dresser who ran to the blaze with 1t, aI d other assistance arriving, the tlGe, which had made but little headSay was soon eXtlngulshed. Grahnu states that shortly before he discovered the fire. he had occasion to go to the back ot R4ilway Avenue near to the place where the fire star ted aud that while there he saw man moving away from. tine place where the lire was discovered. but 1t was 50 dark that he could not see who It was, but in going to the front of the street he passed through 'Herring's saloon and turned eastward and that it waa not more than two minutes from the time he saw the man moving away from the place betore he discovered Ihe fire. An examination showed that coal oil had been poured on the corn CT of the roof and. allowed to run down the lumber on the side of the building and close by was found a
 broken bottle which had evidently contained the coal oil which hId been used The evidence IS complete thlt the whole thing was the deliberate work of an ncendiary.
 When the facts became known, on
 Tuesday morning the feeling Tn the town was very intense and If the scoundrcI had been captured Il would nave gone very hard with hlm. A !e~ business men met Together aud al once nal posteri pr.ntei and dis trIbuled offering $500 ie@ard to any person who could give any lnforma ton that would lead to the cOnvic ion ot the guilty paIties. In the alter noon meeting of cl,ILcns was call ed al Grand AEnI Hali and almost every buIncss man in the town va, present, the meeting being composed exclusively Oi tax payers.
 r. J. DrAnnen Was called to tn. chalr and J. O'Nlell selected as sec retAry. In ordcr that the meeting might be luIy iuiJrincd as to the Cir attending the discovery O! the fire, a commute was sent for Al. fred Graham to request his atteu dance. Mir. Graham came and rela ted what he saw and the manner h. which the tire vas discovered and ex- unguishe1. It was then resolved that the action offering the reward of $500 for the conviction of the guilty parties be endorsed, the gent.emer present pledglng themselves to pro. vide the mOney.A motion to raise funds tor providing d ngnt watch was lost, some of the experiences of the past with night watchmen not having been very satisfactory. Iu was then resolved that committe be appointed to draw up resolutions towards taking some steps tor removing the Chinamen from Flagstaff and the chairman ap pointed as sYch c4mmitte. Dr. D. ] Brannen, J w, Francis, T. G. Nor ris, Ed. Gale and Geo. H. Tinker. A resolution wa. passed to appoint comnitte to investigate the condition of the back yards and the arrange ment for safety connected with stove pipes and chimneys. James A. Vail, J. J. Donahue and DA. Murphy were appointed as such committe.
 The meeting then adjourned until Wednesday eyenIng.
 The adjourned meeting was held Wednesday evening. P. J. Brannen in the chair. In the absence of
 O'Niell, Max Salzman acting as sec. relary. The committe on the chinese question submitted the following re port. -...
 "Whereas, on the morning of the 10th of August an incendilry attempt was made to destroy our town by fire and Whereas it is urged that this attempt grew out of predjudice against the Chinese now in our town, and in feaI of repetition of the dastardly act be ing again attempted, and Whereas we are credibly informed that all fire in- surance policies now in force will be unless measures are taken at once for the detection and remov. al of the cause of this attempted fire. Now therefore. be 1t resolved by the citizens of Flagstaff in mass meeting that in view of the facts above mentioned we earnestly solicit and request all Chinese engaged in business in our town to close their res pective places of trade, and for all time hereafter abstain from all further